


It’s Always Been Us

by TheRain0299



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 14:20:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19378465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRain0299/pseuds/TheRain0299
Summary: When Reginald Hargreeves adopted the seven children that would form The Umbrella Academy, he never expected them to develop into actual people.





	It’s Always Been Us

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so this is my first work about TUA and is still a WIP. This focuses a lot of the relationship between Vanya, Klaus, and Ben before his death. Some of it is from the show, some from the comics, and primarily from myself.

On the twelfth hour of the first day of October, 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth. There was nothing unusual in this fact except that none of them had been pregnant when the day began. Sir Reginald Hargreeves, a wealthy inventor, attempted to acquire as many of these children as possible. He managed to find seven.   
These children were raised in a special academy, created to hone their special skills. Hargreeves gave the children numbers, in lieu of using the names given to them at birth, and ranked them according to their apparent usefulness to him. It was his belief that these children would save the world and, to prepare them, fostered competition in them through various missions and training exercises designed to further the rankings bestowed upon them.   
In a family full of special children, three were considered- at least to their father- to be almost entirely useless in the fight against evil. The most useless, number seven, was named Vanya. She had no powers to speak of, unlike her siblings, and spent the majority of her time engaged in general studies. She had an extreme passion for music, though her father would say that she was lacking in talent. Vanya didn't particularly mind not being allowed to go on missions with her siblings, as long as she was able to spend time with them later. She'd learned early on not to press her father about it. Whenever she'd ask him why she wasn't allowed to go as a child he'd reply "there's simply nothing special about you." And she accepted that. It was only when her siblings began to exclude her from other activities that she began to feel left out.   
She fell into her first depressive spiral at the of eleven, shortly after her brother, Five, disappeared. Vanya and Five had been best friends. They'd done nearly everything together from the time they were four years old. Once, their father had found them outside, digging when they were supposed to be busy at their studies.   
"Number Five, Number Seven, what are you doing out here?" He'd barked at them in the gruff voice he'd always used while speaking to them. Vanya didn't speak, just looked down at the shovel in her hands silently. Five had looked at her for a minute before turning to their father, straightening his shoulders and taking a deep breath.   
"We're digging a hole to China." He'd said, his voice solid. Vanya had looked up at him then and smiled. She'd thought that no one had ever been as brave as her brother was, and was glad he was on her side.   
Their father had scoffed at that, glaring down at them with disdain, and adjusted his monocle. "Don't be ridiculous." He'd stated, and the two kids had shrunk a little then. "Number Five, return to your studies. Now." Five had hesitated, then handed his shovel to Vanya and walked slowly back towards the house. Their father held back, watching Vanya carefully. Then, without a word, he turned back and left her there alone. She and Five were more careful about playing after that.   
After he disappeared, Vanya had a hard time. She loved all of her siblings so much, and was close to some of the others, but none of them were as understanding as Five had always been. For months, she barely ate, and stayed up as long as she could in the hopes of catching him when he eventually came back. And she was sure that he'd come back because there was no way he'd leave her forever. But the more time went by, the less it seemed like he'd be back.   
It was a difficult time for her, and her siblings had begun excluding her more and more often, which only served to deeper her depression. To her surprise, Klaus was the first to notice that she wasn't doing well. He'd found her outside one night, around three am, standing just outside the front gate and staring down the street.   
"Van?" His voice was loud, and Vanya had nearly jumped out of her skin. She'd turned and stared at him.   
"What are you doing out here?" She asked him. Her voice was strained, and she could barely speak above a whisper. Klaus didn't respond, but held out his arms to her, engulfing her in a hug. Vanya sobbed into his shoulder and he held her close to him, rocking her gently.   
Neither of them said anything after that, just stood there silently, and waited together for their brother return. Years later, Vanya would look back on that night and call herself a moron for really believing Five would return. But at the time, it was something she was perfectly fine hoping for.   
After that, she spent a lot of time with Klaus. He started inviting her when he and Ben were gearing up to do something reckless, and tried to teach her how to fight.   
"Just because you don't have a power doesn't mean you can't learn how to defend yourself." He'd told her when he brought the subject up the first time and she'd objected. He was persuasive, and they'd begun training almost immediately. Any time there was scheduled "fun and games" in a day, Klaus and Vanya would be sparing in the front yard. Ben would sit in the grass and read while Diego cheered beside him. For a few months, the four of them were practically inseparable. Friday nights, when their father retired to his study early to record everyone's progress, the four of them would sneak out to a little bakery just down the road. They'd drink coffee and eat doughnuts until they were sick and then make their way back to the house. Many times, Pogo would be waiting up for them, sitting in the front room reading, to make sure they all got back okay.   
Once, when the squad came back home, they found Luther and Allison sitting up, waiting. Vanya and Ben stopped dead in their tracks, and shrunk back, not knowing what to do. Diego took the lead then, stepping in front of the others.   
"What are you two doing up?" He stressed 'you' as if it was an insult. His voice was hard, or as hard as a twelve year olds voice can be. Luther and Allison stood up. Allison crosses her arms over her chest and glared at them.   
"We were just wondering if we should tell dad that you guys have been sneaking out." Luther said. The words were sharp, but he looked betrayed.   
"Without us." Allison mumbles under her breath. Vanya watched the interaction with fascination. She realized that they were hurt from being left out, and wondered if they would continue to exclude her if she talked to them. She wanted to say something,then, but thought about past times she'd asked to join their conversations and had been shined. She kept quiet. Klaus, however, laughed.  
"What? Did you guys want to come?" He asked harshly. Allison started at the ground. Klaus gasped. "You do!"  Ben watched Klaus with amusement. That was how the two of them became part of the tradition.


End file.
